Best GPU 2011 – 2012

Those who tirelessly game day in and day out know that the single most important piece of hardware for their computer is their GPU or Graphics Processing Unit. Without a decent GPU your computer will either have a low FPS (Frame Rate) or not be able to run your games on their highest settings. Avid gamers generally replace their video cards every 12-24 months in order to have their PC support the newest and greatest games.

*Untrue Fact of the day – Choppy Gaming accounts for at least 52% of all pwnge.

Ok, now that we’ve got our untrue fact of the day out of the way we’re on to graphics cards. The two graphics cards we’ll feature today are the EVGA GeForce GTX 470 and the Asus Radeon HD6950. You can generally find these GPU for less than $250.

Radeon HD6950

If you haven’t read techpowerup‘s mod on the HD6950, then we suggest you do. Why pay an extra $70 when you can mod it to the HD6970 for free? If you go with the 6950, then you’ll enjoy the new shading technology that Radeon has incorporated into their graphics cards.

GTX 470

The GTX 470 is a time and gamer tested graphics card. I own it and it still runs all of my games on their highest resolution settings and promises to do so for at least another year or so. The GTX 470 has been in the top 25 for GPU since it’s release about a year ago. NVIDIA’s 400 series of graphics cards provides new accelerated tessellation to your picture. This enables new and more scalable Geometry to all of your games.

Radeon HD6950 Vs. GTX 470 Table

Graphics Card

1080p

1440p

2160p

Game

GTX 960

68.2

47.8

33.8

Grid Autosports Max Settings

R9 380

71.8

52.7

35.8

Grid Autosports Max Settings

GTX 960

61.8

41.5

25.8

Battlefield 4 Ultra

R9 380

68.9

51.3

37.9

Battlefield 4 Ultra

GTX 960

57.7

43.4

19.8

GTAV High Detail

R9 380

56.9

43.2

24.3

GTAV High Detail

GTX 960

46.2

31.7

13.8

Far Cry 4 High Settings

R9 380

61.8

45.7

25.0

Far Cry 4 high Detail Settings

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